The present ivention relates to a integrated voice and data telephone system for use in a business environment. Communications are undergoing rapid and dramatic change with the incorporation of display terminals, personal computers, and word processors. The computer controlled systems require, in general, processing of data in digital format, as contrasted to conventional telephone systems which operate in an analog or analog-to-digital format. Consequently, one problem which has faced business communication systems is the incorporation of data and voice inforamtion into a compatible fashion.
Due to the different technical needs and standards of voice and data communication, their integration has proven to be fairly difficult. Computer manufacturers have developed local area networks (LANs) to allow computers and peripheral devices to communicate with one another. While there have been attempts to broaden LAN systems by adding voice capability, the results have been less than satisfactory. It is believed that there presently are not existing provisions to link LAN voice channels to public telephone networks.
In addition, voice transmission qualtiy generally is substandard in LAN systems. Similarly, PBX manufacturers attempting to add data to their digital voice switches also have fallen short. In both cases, integrating data and voice usually has involved compromises of existing design philosophies, with results which have often been clumsy and in general always costly.
The difficulties appear to have stemmed from designers who seemed compelled to base their designs on the architectural concepts of existing systems, either because those were the concepts as understood or in order to protect compatability with an older equipment base. Predictably, the results have been unsatisfactory.